Fire in Our Hearts and Ice in Our Veins

Patrick sighed as he stared at the screen of his phone. This was for Harley, he thought to himself, and he hit the call button.

“Hello?” a tired voice answered.

“Allie? This is Patrick,” he said hesitantly. Allie had been one of Patrick’s girlfriends. She had caught him cheating on her and was even ready to take him back if he just apologized and promised never to do it again. Not only had he refused her an apology, he had kicked her out. Patrick wondered what Harley would have thought if she had known that story.

The girl’s voice suddenly turned cold, “Patrick. Why are you calling?”

This was it, Patrick thought, he knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath and began to explain. “Listen Allie, I’m really really sorry for what happened during our relationship. I was such an asshole back then, you didn’t deserve it. I was wrong on so many levels and I should have known better than to hurt a great girl like you.”

“Wow, Pat, I am so glad to hear you say that. Honestly, that apology means so much to me. I’m so happy you called.”

The joy in Allie’s voice from just his simple apology filled Patrick with not only relief but made him feel good. “Yeah me too. How have you been, Al?”

“Funny you should say that!” she bubbled, “no offense Pat, but you breaking up with me might’ve been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I met the most amazing guy, Derrick, he’s a doctor, and I just love him so much.”

“That’s great Al!” Patrick said, but he was secretly wondering about all the other girls out there who had been able to find happiness after him, he would never have what they had.

“I know! And here’s the best part, a week ago, he PROPOSED! God, it was so romantic. Oh Pat! You’ve got to come to my wedding, it would make me so happy! I’m putting you on the guest list right now!” she gushed, “So what about you Pat, how have you been. Anyone special in your life?”

“That’s actually kinda part of the reason I was calling,” Patrick started, and then he explained the whole story to her. Patrick was never really sure what Allie did, but he knew she had access to some top-secret information and equipment he hoped could help him find Harley. “So I was hoping you could maybe help me find her or something,” he said after he was done explaining the story.

She was silent and then finally she spoke, “Wow Patrick, you sound so in love with this girl. She must be really special.”

“I’m not in love with her!”

“Okay sure, Pat. And yes, obviously I can help you find Harley, that’s a piece of cake.” She turned her attention to what he assumed was a machine of some sort and a few minutes later she rambled off an address and some locations to him.

“Allie, I can’t thank you enough, you are…”

“The best? I know,” she laughed, “listen, Pat, I gotta go, Derrick just made lasagna and it’s ready. Thanks so much for your call. It means a lot.”

“Thanks so much for everything, Al.”

“Bye Patrick.”

***

The group of 5-6 year old girls stared at the front of the room in confusion.

“Alright then, ladies, let’s get to it, shall we? I’m Brent and we are going to be Harley’s substitutes today for your dance class.”

The girls continued to stare blankly up at Duncan, Brent, Patrick Sharp and Corey. Jonathan was off making sure Catherine was okay and Patrick was out trying to find Harley which left the four boy who had been instructed to handle the dance classes Harley had been missing.

“No you idiot, they speak French, they don’t understand what you’re saying,” Duncan said.

“Oh yeah.”

“Bonjour les filles, je suis Duncan et ce sont mes amis Brent, Patrick et Corey. Mme Harley est hors malade aujourd'hui et nous allons apprendre à votre classe au lieu. (Hello girls, I'm Duncan and these are my friends Brent, Patrick and Corey. Ms. Harley is out sick today and we are going to teach your class instead.)”

“This is so stupid,” Patrick Sharp complained, “can’t we just tell them classes are cancelled?”

“I dunno Sharpie, I think it’s kinda fun,” Corey said doing a spin in front of the mirror, but tripping and falling flat on his face. The girls giggled hysterically and got up to join Corey in spinning around the room.

Soon they had a room full of dizzy girls, spinning and prancing around to music. There was no rhyme or reason to it but the girls seemed to be fully enjoying themselves.

“Best ballet teachers ever!” Brent said.

***

The building was even sketchier than Patrick had expected and he gulped touching the grey cinder block surface. Kick in the third window on the side of the building facing the park, then throw in a baseball or a football and run and hide until someone checks it out, THEN climb in, Allie had told him. He did these things easily and watched as a man on the inside picked up the hockey puck muttering “stupid kids” and walked away. Patrick had felt like Zorro leaving his mark, as he had chosen a Blackhawks puck. Smiling to himself, he climbed in.

If you go all the way down that hall, the last door on the left should lead to the basement, that’s where Harley will be, Allie had instructed. Patrick practically ran to the door, jumping out of his skin at the sound of his own footsteps. He opened the door, praying that Harley was inside and made his way down the creaking stairs.

When he saw her, he felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. She looked like a rag doll, slumped in a corner with bruises all over her small figure. Dried blood caked a large gash on her head and she had tape over her mouth and cuffing her hands together.

He ran up to her, trying as hard as he could not to hurt her any further while taking the tape off. When he was finally done he held her in his arms as tightly as he could.

“Patrick? How the hell did you find me?” she whispered.

“Who cares? Are you all right? What hurts? What did they do to you?”

“I’m fine,” she laughed and began to start to sound like herself again.

He looked into her eyes and remembered his conversation with Allie, she must be really special, Allie had said. Patrick thought about what an understatement that was. He couldn’t imagine a girl more special than her. He broke out in a goofy smile just looking at her and she smiled back at how weird he was. After awhile Harley broke the silence.

“So I guess I owe you an explanation,” she said, and began to tell him the story.